


The Cottage in the Woods

by karfishylicious



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: 1920s, Elf Techno, Fae & Fairies, Gen, Historical Inaccuracy, Hurt/Comfort, Magic AU, Pixie Tubbo, Sleepy Boys Inc - Freeform, Wilbur Techno and Tommy are children, Wizard Philza, more possible characters - Freeform, no ships, siren wilbur
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27769594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karfishylicious/pseuds/karfishylicious
Summary: Phil was a simple man. He lived a simple life in a simple cottage with a little garden of herbs and vegetables surrounded by trees seemingly touching the sky. However, his and others definitions of simple might differ.In which Philza is a wizard who lives in a magic forest, and ends up adopting three equally magic children along the way.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 131





	The Cottage in the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to flonsh for betaing! <3

Phil was a simple man. He lived a simple life in a simple cottage with a little garden of herbs and vegetables surrounded by trees seemingly touching the sky. However, his and others definitions of simple might differ. See, Phil was a special man, despite what he might tell the average person. Phil was capable of what the village outside the forest he resided in would consider the “devils teachings”, but in reality he was a master of healing potions and magic. Phil was a wizard. One of many who lived in the same woods, where normal people rarely, if ever, ventured into. See, the land around his little cottage was blessed by the Fae millennium ago, and around that land grew a large forest to protect that land from harm. There, the Fae peacefully lived for centuries before the human race grew and expanded, and the humans eventually made their way to the valley just outside the edge of the forest. Now, the Fae weren’t too keen on their new neighbors, and any human who wandered into their domain wouldn’t be met with kindness and blessings, thus making sure no more people in their right mind would come and harm their home. 

However, there were some humans who were favored by the fae, humans who showed respect, reverence and kindness to their people. Their bloodlines were blessed with the power to see and manipulate the fae’s own powers, thus creating generations of witches and wizards to protect their gift. This is where Phil is now, having grown up as his parents' apprentice, and practicing his gift in the place where it was born. On this day, Phil was waking up with the sun as he usually does, the pale golden light streaming in through his sheer curtains and making his nose wrinkle. He sits up and steps into his sandals, making his way to the small kitchen where he prepares a breakfast of bread and milk delivered by a little girl named Niki from the village. He smiles at the memory of the young witch with long blonde hair skipping through the clearing up to his door, sent by the local baker, a friend of his. 

Despite magic’s practitioners being feared and shunned by the humans of the village, there were still some who preferred city life to the forest, and made a living by practicing in secret. No matter how much the gift terrified the humans, the thought of how many of them benefited daily from its use sent a chuckle through Phil’s body. He slices the soft bread and puts it on a small plate, then flicks his hand gently and watches as coffee beans float into the air, pulverize into dust and settle into a filter by themselves. Realizing he doesn’t have any water in his kettle to boil, he sighs and grabs a bucket from beside his door and walks out to his well. 

Something stops him though. He freezes as he hears rustling behind him in his garden, and his fingers twitch defensively before taking a deep breath and turning around. Hunched behind a tall tomato plant, almost as if unable to grasp their size, is a… child? They don’t seem to notice Phil, so he carefully places the bucket at his feet and slowly walks towards them, eyebrows raised quizzically as he gets closer. The child has an almost unruly head of garishly pink hair, dirty and tangled with leaves and twigs stuck inside, and poking out of it are two sharply pointed ears, which makes Phil even more confused. Why would an elf come and steal from his garden, let alone let themselves get this messy? The elves he knew were all ethereal and well-kempt. Pursing his lips, Phil lets out a deep sigh and makes himself known by tapping the child on the shoulder, making them yelp and scramble away. The thing they were munching on, a potato, falls from their grasp and Phil looks up to find a terrified looking boy, about 9 or 10, face dirty and scraped up, eyes seemingly searching for any way out of this situation. 

“Hey.. don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you.” Phil frowns, concerned, and kneels down to the child’s level. “My name is Phil, what’s yours little one?” He tries to give him a soft smile, wanting to seem as non-threatening as possible. 

The boy chews on his lip and curls into himself, arms wrapping around his knees that have been pulled to his chest. He gives Phil a short glance before looking away shyly, probably ashamed that he had been caught stealing. “T….. Techno…” he says softly, barely audible enough for the wizard to hear.

“Techno, is that right?” What an interesting name, Phil thinks, but then again, Elven folk weren’t known for their common titles. “Do you know where your parents are, Techno? They might be looking for you.”

The boy shakes his head and sniffles, face turning away at the mention of his parents. He curls up even more, much to Phil’s dismay, and shakes his head. “They won’ look for me… ma n pa were th’ ones who left me here… said they didn’ wan’ no fairy as a son…” His ears turn down and his eyes tear up a bit. “Said I was cursed…” 

At Techno’s words, Phil’s heart simply breaks. He knew the townsfolk weren’t exactly the keenest of his kind, but for parents to cast their own child out, calling his gift a ‘curse’... He could barely stand to see the child so small and fragile, obviously hungry and confused. He takes another deep breath, holding back curses in his mind for this kid’s parents, and extends a rough hand out to the boy.

“You aren’t cursed, Techno. You’ve been blessed by powerful beings. If you want, you can stay here for a bit. I’ll draw you a bath, give you some food, real food, and a bed to sleep in for as long as you want.” This makes the boy perk up and look at Phil with wide and hopeful eyes, rich brown like the earth beneath him, and he hesitantly grabs Phil’s outstretched hand. 

Phil stands up, slowly pulling Techno up with him, and gently dusts off his ragged farm clothes. “I’ll send for some new clothes as well.” He frowns and picks at the holes and tears in the loose shirt before patting him on the shoulder. “I doubt these hold good memories for you, so we’ll get rid of them as soon as we can.” He gives Techno another small smile, this time receiving one back, making his heart shine at the slight glint of sharpened teeth.

He leads Techno inside, sitting him down at the table and going back to the counter to slice more bread and meat for the boy, piling them high on a plate and placing it down before him. Phil grins as he hears Techno’s stomach rumble, and he pats him on the head as he starts to dig in.

“I’ll be right back, ok? I need to grab some water from the well, and I’ll get you a glass to drink too.” 

Techno nods, mouth chubby and stuffed with food, making Phil chuckle warmly at the sight of him eating well, probably for the first time in who knows how long. Thinking about how his parents just… abandoned him in the forest makes the wizard’s heart ache, so he returns outside and grabs the bucket he placed down earlier, walking over to the well and tossing it down to fill it with water. He tugs it back up with a rope and grunts as he picks it back up, careful not to slosh any as he makes his way back to his home. He’s relieved to find Techno still peacefully eating at the table, somehow thinking he’d have disappeared by now. He lets out a happy sigh and places the water bucket by the door, letting his magic flow through his fingers to create a small ball of water that floats into a nearby drinking glass to fill it. He then picks it up and places it by the boy’s plate, making sure he sees it before going back to the water and filling up his kettle finally, quickly heating it up with his hands until it boils, and pouring it over the grounds he had placed earlier, the warm and comforting smell of coffee filling his nose. Once his cup is full, he sits down at the table next to Techno and sips his drink, watching him eat and take sips of water in between bites. Phil chuckles into his drink and pats the boy on his shoulder, making him look up, a couple crumbs on his face.

“Slow down, kiddo. No one’s going to take away your food here, I promise.” 

Techno looks a bit nervous, but he nods and slows down his eating, carefully chewing on each piece of meat until his plate and glass are both empty. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and bites his lip, looking up at Phil with a soft expression.

“Thank you for feeding me, Mr. Phil…”

Phil smiles brightly and nods, ruffling his nest of hair once more.

“Of course. I’m glad to see you ate it all! Now, how about we get you into a bath and I can get around to tackling that hair of yours, hm? I’m sure all those sticks and stones don’t feel good.”

Techno nods and scratches his scalp, absentmindedly picking at the debris in his hair. Phil sighs and stands up, picking up the boy and taking him upstairs to his bathroom. His pipes are relatively new, and he was incredibly grateful for them in the long run, because even with magic, drawing a hot bath up a flight of stairs was never fun. He sits the boy on his toilet before turning on the water in his bath, making sure its warm enough so as not to shock him. Once it’s filled up halfway, he turns back to Techno and smiles.

“Do you want bubbles?”

This makes Techno tilt his head in question, and in answer Phil grins and holds up his hands with a bit of soap on them, and blows into the tub, magically making the small amount of soap into a large pile of soft smelling bubbles floating on the water, and he turns back to the boy to find the biggest smile on his face. Phil makes sure he has plenty of shampoo while Techno gets undressed and slips into the bath, brown eyes wide as saucers as he plays with the pile of bubbles around him. 

“Close your eyes, ok? I’m going to wet your hair so I can comb through it, let me know if it hurts too much, kiddo.” 

Techno nods nervously and squeezes his eyes shut, letting Phil guide his head down into the water, going a bit pale which doesn’t go unnoticed by the wizard, but he doesn’t mention it. Pulling him back up, Phil lets the boy’s long hair hang over the edge of the tub as he starts to brush it so the debris doesn’t end up in the water. He’s as gentle as can be, but occasionally he sees the boy wince and cringe as a stray knot or twig gets stuck on the comb, making Phil’s heart twinge with sympathy. Soon enough though, its all smooth and clean, and he lets it back into the bath as he grabs the soap. It’s quiet as Phil cleans up Techno, the boy silent and shy as he watches his built up grime wash away into the warm water. The sun shines brightly in the bathroom by the time they’re finished, and Phil goes to grab a towel as he unplugs the drain with a bit of magic, wrapping the now clean child in the soft fabric, water pooling around his calloused feet. Phil sighs at the lack of clothing he has for someone as small as Techno, and sits him down on the toilet once more while he goes to look for something. 

He’s rummaging through his closet when he finds his old school uniform from when he was about Techno’s age in the back of his shelf. His parents insisted he take the outfit for nostalgic purposes, and while it was a bit dusty and stiff, he’s sure it would do for the boy, at least for today. A soft smile on his face, Phil returns to the bathroom and presents the outfit to Techno, letting him get dressed alone as he steps outside. When Techno steps out of the bathroom, Phil chuckles to himself as he sees how it fits him. The pants are just a bit too short, and the shirt a bit too loose on his thin frame, but it works, and from the look on Techno’s face he couldn’t be happier. 

In that moment Phil knew he wouldn’t be able to bear seeing Techno leave. This little boy had left too big of an impact on him, and he knew there wasn’t anything out there waiting for him either. He suddenly pulled the child into a hug, melting at the feeling of his thin arms wrapping around him, surprised but comforted. 

“Welcome home, Techno. Welcome home.”

**Author's Note:**

> hi! if you want to hear more about the fic, want to know when I update or just like seeing things about mcyt, feel free to follow my twitter @mac1ntosh420!


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